Anarchist commune could shut down open cannabis market

A famous anarchist commune may have to shut down its open cannabis market due to escalating gang violence. Christiania is a self-governing municipality in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Founded in 1971, squatters occupied abandoned military barracks and declared them an autonomous community based on the principles of anarchism and mutual cooperation.

Community rules and regulations differ from the Danish legal system. The authorities have a love-hate relationship with the municipality. Yet in 1989 they effectively legalized it as a “social experiment.”

Christiania, also known as Freetown Christiania, is known for “Pusher Street” where there is an open cannabis market. Although cannabis is illegal under Danish law, the authorities have granted the anarchist commune (more or less) autonomy.

However, the recent rise in gang violence could destroy the open cannabis market once and for all. Christiania residents have been active in the past, organizing boycotts to drive gang trafficking out of the community.

But now the mayor of Copenhagen is getting involved. She told the media that this anarchist commune needs to shut down this open cannabis market.

I believe that we need to have space for Christiania in Copenhagen. It’s both distorted and alternative. It’s creative. But this harsh, organized violence must be banished from the future around Christiania.

So my message is that if the Christians make it clear that they are willing to close down Pusher Street and replace it with something else, then we in the Copenhagen church are ready to support the elaboration of a plan to find out what will happen should the street.

A Brief History of Christiania

In 1971, a well-known Danish journalist and many others occupied an abandoned military barracks. The military sued the squatters in 1976 and the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the military.

However, the settlers of Christiania went nowhere. The process of legitimizing the “social experiment” began.

However, drugs and overdoses were a problem almost immediately. After 10 people died from overdoses, Christiania residents formed a “garbage blockade.” For over a month, residents patrolled the neighborhood and threw out anyone dealing hard drugs.

In the 1980s, two motorcycle gangs attempted to gain control of the community. But when someone found a man’s dismembered body under floorboards, the Danish authorities intervened. The police cleared the gangs and Christiania has a strict no biker jacket rule.

It was quiet for a while. But in the early 2000s, gang violence erupted again. In 2005, a man was shot dead and three others injured in a cannabis trafficking incident.

More recently there have been stabbings, and another man was shot dead. Municipality spokeswoman Hulda Mader told the Guardian: “These are not people we know. We suspect they are gangs. We fear that the situation in Christiania will escalate into a gang war.”

She says she has received death threats for meddling in gang disputes.

Anarchist commune could shut down open cannabis market: details

After a spate of violence and deaths in 2016, the anarchist commune once tried to curb its open cannabis market.

A joint assembly of Christiania residents decided to remove the stalls from Pusher Street. Residents and neighbors were asked to support the boycott. Some estimate that the price of cannabis has fallen by 75% in 60 days.

However, the situation is different today. The spokesman said: “We as private individuals cannot do anything about it. Violence has now continued and we just think it has become too dangerous for us.”

Despite their “no police allowed” stance, Christiania’s anarchists are now working with Copenhagen City Council and the police to put an end to the gang violence.

Thoughts on this anarchist commune

The residents of Christiania describe themselves as “anarchists with rules”. This may seem contradictory to some, but anarchists are not against rules. Anarchists reject rules derived from hierarchical power structures.

That’s why every anarchist you meet is anti-state. Many anarchists, especially in Europe, are also anti-capitalists. Christiania’s founders were anti-capitalists, but that term needs nuance.

Despite the assertion by some that “anarcho-capitalism is not true anarchism,” markets emerge from spontaneous order.

And let’s say the residents of Christiania want to clear up gang violence while keeping the cannabis trade open. In that case, it’s best to read something by Rothbard or Murphy alongside Proudhon, Kropotkin, or Bookchin.

Despite Bookchin’s contention to the contrary, anarchists of all persuasions can bridge this “unbridgeable gulf” between “left” and “right” anarchism.

Consider Christiania’s core beliefs: According to the state, they were illegal squatters on military property. But not even the “reactionary” Murray Rothbard would claim that the activists were occupying.

State ownership is not legitimate. But what about private property? Isn’t this the “unbridgeable gap”?

Space does not allow for a thorough analysis of private property in the context of various anarchist schools. So let’s assume that all the inhabitants of Christiania agree on the principles of autonomy, self-government and non-hierarchical organization.

The community has long promoted participatory decision-making. The solution presented here is based on anarchist principles.

“Right-wing” economic policies fix Christiania and keep it anarchistic.

This famous anarchist commune may have to shut down its open cannabis market due to escalating gang violence. So here is the solution:

Require “Christiania IDs”. Nobody can get in without this ID. There are also temporary “guest passes” that the municipality can issue to tourists wishing to visit.

Have a regular community meeting of residents vote on who distributes and is responsible for the badges.

But wait — isn’t it the opposite of anarchism to require you to move “your papers” around a neighborhood? No one would consider the Covid domestic passport programs put in place by various governments as ‘anarchistic’.

And indeed there is nothing anarchistic about the state. Above all, the state demands your papers.

But we’re talking about a private commune here. No one has the right to injure another person’s property. Even these anarchists would claim that “possessions” are legitimate forms of private property.

Now it’s just a matter of extending that “possessions are legitimate” logic to “the land you live on is yours too.”

If the 1,000 people in Christiania all recognize each other, the ID cards will be superfluous. Only ask tourists to wear lanyards.

In addition, Christiania’s permanent residents can hire a security service to drive out the gangs.

But the people of Christiania must – somehow – rationalize private ownership. One way is to understand basic economics.

In this way they can begin to reconcile left-wing anarchists’ “mutual aid” with the praxeological capitalism that right-wing anarchists like Rothbard describe.

Final thoughts on the open cannabis market in Christiania

Some label economists like Murray Rothbard “neoliberals,” simply apologists for big business. But if you’ve ever read Rothbard’s political philosophy or economics, you know that couldn’t be further from the truth.

To save Christiania from having to shut down its open cannabis market due to rising gang violence, residents should embrace a certain free capitalism and reject the lofty ideals of thinkers like Noam Chomsky.

Like Rothbard, Chomsky is a brilliant thinker. And like Rothbard, he has his limitations.

Rothbard was a terrible political strategist. His association with the anti-war left of the 1960s backfired, and his association with the paleoconservative community around the time of his death no doubt solidified his image as a “right wing”.

Chomsky is also a formidable opponent of the military-industrial complex. Including the entertainment department, people often call it “mainstream news.”

But when it comes to making economic sense, he’s, to paraphrase Thomas Sowell, like a kid mature enough to make his own decisions, including breaking the rules and evading his parents’ wishes.

But not mature enough to understand why these rules existed in the first place.

An anarchist who regards private property as mere “convention” is not a serious anarchist thinker, at least not in economic theory.

That’s not to say one should adopt Murray Rothbard’s work-ownership theory, which is admittedly weak.

But by rejecting Rothbardian concepts, the people of Christiania have ensured that their anarchist communal experiment is thrown into chaos, requiring state intervention and the restoration of order.

If Murray Rothbard is not a “true” anarchist, then anarchism is a failed creed.

Either Christiania adopts some “right-wing” anarchist principles, or Freetown and its open cannabis trade cease to exist.